It's a technique I learned from several sources. There is an instructional booklet available called "Superman" from DC Comics, as well as a training video called "The One". Remember, when bashing folks with cars, proper technique and smooth energy are the key to power, not brute strength.

I've never faced a 'chuck wielding momo as an opponent, but I suppose I could imagine a few things to consider.

Leave if at all possible.

Escalation is always bad idea (he has chucks, you get a 6 shooter, he breaks out shotgun, you lauch a nuke, ad nauseum). However, if you're wearing a belt you might be able to use that in some way to give you some range and to interfere witht he swinging chucks enough to get inside. I doubt you'll do any damage, but that isn't the point; it would be a means to an end.

Pick up a handful of dirt or gravel if possible and keep in your hand. It may be useful in your immediate future. I shouldn't need to explain that.

If you cannot get away, and must face the opponent unarmed, then you must work to minimize the advantage he has; I see that as primarily range; he can hit you but you can't hit him. If you can move quickly enough and use angling to your advantage, you should be able to get inside; if you can, grappling would be the next thing to move into. If he is stupid enough to still have his hands on the flails, you now have the advantage. (one caveat; if he is an exceptional fighter, he will likely improvise and use the sticks in a sort of escrima fashion to reduce the range and fight very close in, and my previous comment is void).

If you do take a blow, try to spread the impact out; in other words, don't let the entire force of the blow focus on one point like the edge of your forearm or the tip of your noggin'. Use physics to your advantage; also be aware of large muscle groups that might be disabled temporarily by a hard impact like your lower back, thights, deltoids, etc.

Also, try to "slip" any impact, in boxing fashion.

I've always thought 'Chucks were flashy and scary looking. I've never actually seen someone spar or be a real fight with them. I would imagine two skilled users going toe to toe would be a short, fast, and furious fight.

I would comment on the 9-mm versus .45 debate that has just begun, but it would take us too far from the original subject of defense against nunchaku. I do have firsthand experience with nunchaku versus sword, and have found that the latter has the better reach. (I even have a small scar to prove it.) Here in New York, of course, we don't have to worry about nunchaku on the streets (ha!) because they have been outlawed in the Empire State since 1974. As for martial artists wishing to practice in their own homes...well, we too are outlaws. (I have a sort of scar to prove that, too.) But I have recently challenged these New York laws on the basis that making the peaceful possession of nunchaku in one's own home illegal is unconstitutional. Given the history of disarmament of the Okinawan people that led to the nunchaku's development as a weapon, New York seems pretty draconian, eh? Anyone wanting to follow my legal challenge can check in at: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~jmm257/mvs.html

The wheels of justice turn slowly. The Attorney General's Office has appeared to defend the New York laws, and the Assistant Attorney General assigned to the case has indicated that she will make a motion allowing the judge to decide the legal and constitutional questions on the assumption (for purposes of that motion) that the facts stated in the complaint are true. This is the sort of case where the truth of the facts is not really at issue; the constitutional question is whether the State may go so far as to make it a crime to possess peacefully in one's home a pair of hardwood sticks joined together by a cord or chain. When there is news on the case, I will update my web page and will post an alert to this bulletin board. Thanks for your interest.

No Lie: a co-worker and I ran into a hostile man who had a pair of nunchaku on him just a few weeks ago (not sure of exact date). He didn't use them, but then again, when I saw them, I made fun of the idea of him trying them on me and my friend. (Bravado? Bluff? Both! I could always retreat if necessary- I keep my options open.)

Technique against nunchaku?

If you have to fight: Throw water, soda, ice, a can, pocket change, rabid badger, wet towel, dry towel, towel that is on fire, whatever,-

Then tuck chin, guard up covering head/throat, hunch over and blitz!

Remember your belt as a flail, weapon entangler, etc. But hopefully your belt is only for show- if you use it to keep your pants up, you will have issues running away, charging, etc. If it comes to that later.

Sorry to repeat some of the ideas, just wanted to add that anything can occupy someone long enough for these techniques to work.

P.S.- If you use the flaming towel, maybe you can leave instead of closing- might be best.

One thing to keep in mind in this discussion is the lion-and-chair phenomenon. Clyde Beatty, the late big-cat circus performer, wrote that the whole point of the chair was to get the cat to focus its attention on the inanimate object and not the man behind it. This might prevent the man from getting ripped to shreds should the cat go into, well, let's just call it flaming-rabid-badger mode. Anyway, the same applies to fighting someone wielding a flashy weapon. You're fighting the man, not the sticks. Having trained with the nunchaku since the mid-1970s, including both the flashy twirly cheerleader stuff and the more pragmatic strike-a-tire-and-recover workouts, I can modestly offer a few thoughts about the varieties of possible nunchaku-wielding opponents. Here are two extremes:

1) Someone twirling the sticks quickly and deftly but in a high or wide stance may well be pretty untrained about recovery after striking and, especially, close-quarters grappling. If you move in fast, with a stance of sanchin-dachi or something close to protect the knees (prime nunchaku target) and the forearms protecting the head and neck (other prime nunchaku targets) you may get inside the guy's swinging range without having to take more than one relatively undamaging hit. Then you rock'n'roll and do whatever you do best up close and personal: rapid-rabbit tsuki, elbow strikes, head blow to the nose, knees to the groin, all of the above, etc.

2) Someone holding the sticks in a ready position and in a stance like sanchin-dachi is, to a trained eye, a lot scarier than the aforementioned Mr. Flash-in-the-Pan. Watch out for his feet! "Stix and kix are perfect together," and the possibilities of being kicked, hit in the head or clavicle by the sticks (upper arm), or across the knees or ribs (lower arm) are all omnipresent until the first move is made. Closing quickly in that situation without getting seriously injured or killed on the way in is a far worse bet than with opponent number one, above. But if you think about it, that's why the sticks are more a defensive than an offensive weapon, as someone mentioned in an earlier post. To strike is to expose oneself. If it's a downward nunchaku blow with the upper arm (actually weaker than the lower-arm lateral) you could do a deep thrust pivoting side kick and get your upper body back and out of the way in one move. The more likely strike from this guy will be the lower-arm lateral to your knee, or the kick, or the combination, of course. There is no "recipe response" to these, but your own offensive counter will have to take place during the recovery period, which, if he's good, won't be long. But if you dodge that lateral and/or kick and can get your own kick to his centerline (solar plexus, groin, etc.) during your little window of opportunity, you will certainly have moved your badger into the end zone. How you follow up from there is open-ended, but I'd generally rather be in close with someone armed with a nunchaku or fireram than far enough away to be in the prime target range. 'Course, someone who knows what he's doing can crack you in the head with his rifle butt or crush your larynx with the pivot ends of his nunchaku if you get too close, but I suppose that's no worse, respectively, than having a rifle round between the eyes or the blunt end of a nunchaku smashing into your temporal bone, causing a massive intracranial bleed. Oh, well, those are my optimistic thoughts for the day. Good night, all.